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ncl gem horrible holiday cruise

Sail Date:
January 2008

Destination:
Eastern Caribbean

Embarkation:
New York (Manhattan)

embarkation smooth sailing if you get there by noon we were on line about 20 minutes and waited about 30 minutes before boarding , don't wait till late afternoon the lines were insane! we went right to our room and it was ready nice cabin ,clean and plenty of storage for the 3 of us , my 14 yr old had a pull down bunkbed that was comfortable .We went right to lunch at the garden cafe it was crazy no seats people were rude the staff was not fast enough cleaning down tables so people were eating around dirty plates from other guests.we walked around the ship i have to say it is beautiful and very clean .We went to dinner early around 5:00 it was great no waiting at all i was afraid from other posts that we would wait but again get there early we only ate in the grand pacific (for the meals included in cruise price)we has a great server named magdalena she is from the Philippines and a real sweety probably the nicest one the rest of the staff is hard to communicate with ,after More
dinner we went back to our room to find our luggage we had alot because of christmas presents and unfortunately they lost one of our suitcases with most of our gifts for our son that was never found,

day 2 day at sea the wether was horrible and the activities were for a much older crowd im not interested in lectures about global warming or jewelry repair eating right gimmie a break im on vacation not in school.We enrolled our 14 yr old in the teen club he was bored out of his mind!!!!!!!!!! he spent most of his time in the arcade at 1 dollar to 3 dollars a game or the bowling alley that we did not know it was 10 bucks per person per game total ripoff, again dinner and then a show , the shows were good thank god ..

day 3 florida ncl did not keep the timetable and we got to fl 3 hrs late which totally screwed the day up .we met up family and had christmas but had to return early so we would not be forced to rent the car for an extra day , which we did because of the 3 hr delay ..but it was nice to see family ..

day 4 was supposed to be great stirrup cay and don't you know we could not tender because the water was too rough (total disappointment and don't you know the nicest weather on the entire cruise) we went right to reception to ask for a revised daily itinerary , thats when i lost it ... no kids activities , no adult activities they decided to paint and the fumes were horrible by day 4 you have seen and done all thats included without paying extra for bowling , casino, shopping the rock wall was never open... we went to dinner to discover it was the same menu as the first night , we were starved and opted for the steakhouse @ 20 bucks per person sat down opened the menu to find another 10 dollar charge for anything on the specials menu!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of course anything good was on the special menu it was good not great just good . we went to a show and sat in the casino we were bored out of our minds this was christmas eve and now i want my suitcase these people are programmed to smile and say sorry not found yet , i had to break down in tears to get something done .. fill out forms and wait till i get home so christmas was ruined, so sympathy and the language barrier was frustrating ..

day 6 christmas morning freeport bahamas i have to say waking up to most of your gifts being misplaced we went to the java cafe and santa was there thats it no music no christmas spirit the dinner menu was horrible and i was not spending one red cent on this ship . we have been to the bahamas before we knew what to expect but did not realize everything would be closed no shops ,restaurants, nada .we went back to the nightmare ship and could not wait to get home ...

day 7 debarkation we opted for the express , carry out your own luggage and we did we ran off that ship ncl does not take care of their guest like carnival does it was the worst cruise ever we could have saved 4 grand and stayed home , i a currently working with the insurance company to out in a claim and wrote to ncl seeking compensation for everything else ....stay with what cruiseline you know we will never ever sail with ncl again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!ps the room stewards were horrible had to chase them around to maintain our cabin Less